Client Quilts

I longarm quilted a black and white quilt for a friend who will donate it to a PKD charity event. I'm always happy to help her complete her projects for this annual event. 

Now that we've come to the end of the harvest season here in Wisconsin, I thought I would try my hand at making a batch of chicken stock. I read an article from America's Test Kitchen about how homemade stock is healthy, easy and more economical than buying it in a carton from the grocery store. So using ATK's recipe I made a batch. It was definitely easy but not so cheap. I buy organic chicken stock by the case from Sam's Club for under $10. Just the chicken parts for this recipe cost me $18 at our local meat market.  

I got 5 quart jars of stock. The one thing I did not prepare for was the freezing part of this recipe. I had to make lots of room in the freezer for the large jars. I just hope I remember to plan far enough ahead to thaw a jar when I need to use it in a recipe. 

A client asked me to longarm her king-size quilt. I wasn't so sure I wanted to take on such a big project for more than one reason. I had other obligations to get out of the way first and there's been lots of issues with her projects in the past. Sometimes she gives me a chunk of fabric that needs to be made into backing and sometimes the backing she made isn't big enough. 

With this project, the backing wasn't big enough. It was a wide-back piece that wasn't long enough. It was so wide that I could have cut some of the width down and stitched it to the bottom but the fabric was directional so it would look really dumb. So she asked me to buy a bigger piece from the shop where I work. I had a co-worker help me choose something we both liked. It turned out nice when it was done. 

A T-shirt Quilt

I have to get better at saying no. I find it a real struggle. I end up getting myself in stressful situations because of it. I always have too many charity quilts to finish, too many client projects to finish and too many quilt groups that take up time and energy. Quilt groups are supposed to be fun. And they would be if I wasn't saying yes to so many other quilt projects. But I'm working on it.

I started scheduling client quilts. I do just one per month. If someone asks, I let them know the first available month and they get to decide whether they want to wait or ask someone else. Surprisingly they usually wait. So I am booked until February. 

With that said, here is my client quilt I finished for the month of October. It's a t-shirt quilt for one of my co-worker's nieces. She did a beautiful job of piecing the quilt and I love the way she laid out the blocks. 

I quilted it using a modern all-over quilting design.  

With a little extra time on my hands I thought I would do some decorating for halloween. 

My husband built me the most awesome pallet bar this summer so I couldn't resist putting Sally behind the bar. Ha! I'm already feeling some of the stress I've been feeling disappear.

The Glam Bag

My sister used Peanuts fabric to line the box of the Christmas gift she gave me last year. It was such a cute idea. Today I used the Glam Bag pattern from Pink Sand Beach Designs to make this toiletry bag with some of the fabric. The pattern required fusible fleece interfacing and decor bond as well. I thought I was never going to be able to sew through all those layers but the bag sewed up like a dream. At first I thought the directions were going to be a little complicated, after all they are 4 pages long. But there's a method to the madness and when followed, you get a perfect bag. I still have lots of Peanuts fabric left so I am looking forward to making something else with it. 

Exploding Heart Quilt

I've been planning a wedding quilt for my nephew and his bride for quite a while. I wanted it to be special so I searched and searched for the right pattern and fabrics. Once I decided on the exploding heart pattern, it still took me some time to find the right fabrics. I wanted some nice colors without the fabrics coming off too feminine. During the time I was searching I straightened up my sewing room and came across a layer cake I purchased a few years back. It was perfect. 

I did have a problem to overcome if I used a layer cake. It would waste lots of fabrics with the process of making quarter square triangles. That's where working in a quilt shop really came in handy. I explained the problem and a coworker suggested I borrow one of the Accuquilt cutters we have at the shop. There's a die cutter for the triangles and I could manipulate the 10-inch squares through the cutter to get more pieces than if I did the traditional QSTs. I couldn't wait to give it a shot. 

I cut and cut and cut then I cut some more! It was so fun, efficient, and I really got a lot of triangles out of the 10-inch squares. In an afternoon I cut enough pieces that I was ready to make the entire queen-sized quilt top.

I began sewing the triangles together and I really thought I would be sewing them for days. But once the chain-piecing started it went really fast. It was all going together so well. I was loving the process. And the colors were so gorgeous it never got boring.

Since it's a queen-size project I had to use the living room floor to lay the quilt out. Each row had to be laid out before the next to get the quilt right. It was a challenge moving the blocks around with a cat in the room. He loved to plop down in the middle of it all. Once I had all the blocks sewn together I chose a nice green for the backing. 

I chose a nice flowing pantograph to use on my longarm. With all the white space I really wanted the quilting to have a bit of drama. 

My next challenge was making a label. I'm not that experienced with my embroidery machine so I was a little concerned about how to make the label. In fact, my first attempt was way too large so I had to start all over. At least I got the lettering aligned with the heart motifs I used - haha!

I took this photo right before I wrapped it up in pretty wedding themed wrapping paper. I absolutely love how it turned out. 

And here's the happy couple on Sunday after the wedding.

Lemon Drop Martini Table Runner

I love yellow. It's my favorite color, so bright and cheery. What's not to love? 

I love lemon drop martinis. It's the cocktail I order every time we go out for a fancy dinner. I doesn't hurt that the martini is yellow. Haha!

I really wanted to make a table runner that pays tribute to my favorite martini. I purchased some yellow fabrics and whipped up this little beauty just to pay tribute to the cocktail.

It's a perfect table runner to celebrate the first day of summer. The two go together perfectly!

Bunny Bag & Other Little Things

A while back I made a cute little bunny bag for Easter. It required a hand embroidered nose, mouth and eyes. I did not want to do that. I don't what it is about hand embroidery but it's just not my thing. So I searched the internet for a .jef (machine embroidery) file of a nose, mouth and eyes. Lo and behold, I found the perfect fit. The pattern for the bag was a free pattern that can be found here. I really like how it turned out and I had planned on making more of them but life just got in the way.

This year I've been trying really hard to say no. But on occasion I will say yes. I quilted this charity quilt for my Sweet Sundays sewing group. It's a pretty big quilt but I got it done in one day. 

I also sewed some patches on my neighbor's kids' taekwondo uniforms. I don't think the word 'uniform' is correct for whatever these outfits are called. I just don't know. Haha!

 

My Other Projects

Last year my neighbor asked for advice on fixing some cushion covers for their camper. I gave them some advice on what to do however, I think they figured out that it was a bigger project than they could handle. I know he sews but I can't say I blame him for not wanting to tackle this project. So he brought me some canvas yardage and the cushions. I decided to reuse the zippers because they were the only part of the cushion covers that were in great shape. Plus they would be very expensive to replace and I am all about repurposing things. It wasn't a tough job, it only took one afternoon to complete. I hope they get years of enjoyment out of them.

I longarm quilted a charity quilt. for a friend from the quilt shop. It's very pretty and I recognize the fabrics because I used them in a quilt a long time ago.

I refused payment for the quilting so next thing you know, I get a Starbucks gift card from her for my efforts. It really wan not necessary. It seems now that I've learned to say no to most requests for quilting I really get to enjoy the process for the ones I choose to do. I love not having to stress about deadlines for other people's projects. 

My daughter is moving to a new place where my granddaughters will have their own rooms. They've shared a bedroom forever so we wonder if they will miss each other when they move. With more time to spare, Jeff and I volunteered to paint our granddaughter's new bedrooms. They both chose some interesting colors.

I guess after seeing this, they will be ok with being in their own spaces. 

I made some balsamic reduction. I think I should have used the entire bottle of balsamic vinegar considering how little is left after cooking. I don't know what I was thinking since I make this stuff all the time. We go through lots of it. 

Lynn's T-Shirt Quilt

Jeff and I volunteer at my granddaughter's elementary school often. So often that we became friends with one of the administrative assistants. We see each other at the farmers' market every week, she comes to my  granddaughter's birthday parties, we've even had cocktails together at the local wine shop. That's why I did not mind saying yes to making a t-shirt quilt for her son's graduation. She was kind enough to ask me a year in advance so I had planned for it and I really enjoyed making this one. 

Instead of making all the blocks the same size I chose to try something new for me. I made 4 columns, each one a different width. I didn't worry about the height of each block so that made the rows look staggered. It was a great look.

There were some logos on sleeves so I made a row of them to incorporate into the back of the quilt.

I quilted it with a simple swirl that didn't distract from the blocks.